No easy answers in wake of police shooting death of 21-year-old mentally ill Broomfield man

Family of Kyle Miller hopes to raise awareness to avert further tragedy

SPEAKING UP TO HELP OTHERS: Cheryl and Mark Miller holding a photo of their son, Kyle and son, Alex, 19, are speaking out to raise awareness of mental illness so other families won t experience a tragedy such as theirs. Kyle Miller, 21, was shot and killed by Broomfield police on June 28 after pointing an Airsoft gun at officers.
(
David R. Jennings
)

In just more than two minutes, a confrontation between Kyle Miller and Broomfield police officers ended in Miller's death.

Nearly three months later, family members, law enforcement and mental health professionals wonder: What could have saved Kyle Miller?

"There is no universal solution," said Scott Glaser, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Colorado. "But there are things we can do as a community --additional training, support, working with the families and reducing stigma around mental illness."

Yet the roadblock of decreased mental health funding puts more of the burden on law enforcement, families and already-stretched mental illness services.

Kyle Miller

No one can say for sure what was going through Kyle Miller's mind when he ran from his home with a knife and a realistic-looking Airsoft gun the morning of June 28. After pointing the gun at a Broomfield police officer, he was shot and killed. He struggled with schizoaffective bipolar disorder for much of his life and was deeply depressed that day, his family said.

Police, mental health partnerships

Local law enforcement and mental health groups rely on strong partnerships with each other to better address residents with mental illnesses. Strong partnerships ensure those who are in crisis get the best treatment and care when families call 911.

Crisis Intervention Team training, or CIT, is a critical piece of the partnership. CIT is meant to equip police officers with tools to handle people in the middle of a psychiatric crisis by helping officers recognize signs of mental illness and teaching them specific techniques to defuse situations involving those who are mentally ill.

Of Broomfield's police force, 61 percent of patrol officers and 65 percent of the entire department have taken the training, including both officers involved in the shooting, said Police Chief Tom Deland.

Glaser said mental health officials see CIT as an essential tool for raising awareness and providing better outcomes when mentally ill people and law enforcement cross paths.

Family, police see things differently

The Millers and the police department see things differently when it comes to how CIT training played into the tense situation on June 28 in the Millers' north Broomfield neighborhood.

The Millers said officers could have de-escalated the situation by using calm voices instead of yelling for him to drop the weapon. Using his name and speaking in even tones "would have talked him down," said Cheryl Miller, Kyle's mother.

Chief Tom Deland said the officers had just two minutes to assess and respond to the situation. He believes the officers, Tim Railsback and Jeff Smith, reasonably believed the gun was real and acted according to their training.

Though Miller's family told dispatch he carried an Airsoft gun, the bright orange safety tip had been removed, making it look real.

"The officers were faced with what appeared to be a deadly encounter," Deland said, adding that the combination of Miller's Airsoft gun and his proximity to the officers meant officers had to respond to the situation first before drawing on CIT training.

"Had he put the gun down, the officers would have been able to employ that training," he said.

An investigation by the 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Team concluded the two officers would not face charges in the incident.

The Miller family wants the department to undergo more mental health training, but Deland said officers each year routinely get in-service training dealing with CIT topics.

Glaser said NAMI has not taken a position on the Kyle Miller shooting and would not comment on specifics of whether training was effectively implemented in the shooting.

Glaser said Miller's death has affected Miller's family and the families of the officers involved.

"Something went horribly wrong. No one came out a winner here," he said.

If anything, Glaser said, the incident shows that mental health groups, law enforcement and families must continue to strengthen relationships to keep open lines of communication, he said.

Funding cuts have wide impact

According to national NAMI statistics, critical cuts in mental heath care funding and community mental health services mean police officers have become first responders for many mental health crises.

Without continued relationships between families, law enforcement and mental health groups, those with mental health problems are less likely to get appropriate treatment and more likely to end up in jail, which adds a burden to the corrections system and costs the state even more money, said Greg Coleman, NAMI Colorado's board president.

Interactions between police and mentally ill residents are common, whether they are in the form of welfare checks or emergency calls, according to NAMI. Most mental health groups advise families to call 911 in case of a mental health emergency that can't wait for trained mental health professionals to respond.

The Miller family said they called the police in the past when they did not know if their efforts would be enough to keep Kyle from harming himself.

The balance of communication and support from law enforcement is a critical piece of Miller's story, but other critical factors have contributed to the complicated mental health system.

Families of mentally ill people still bear the bulk of the responsibility for their care and treatment -- and that care and treatment can come at a significant cost.

Families are the first line of defense, Cheryl Miller said.

"It's your family or (nothing)," she said.

For 10 years, Cheryl Miller made Kyle's mental health her full-time job. She quit her job to help Kyle manage his mental health.

"While other kids were going to soccer practice, we were going to the doctor," she said.

Miller said her family was lucky, however. Her husband, Mark, has a good job with solid health insurance, allowing the family to pay bills and get good treatment for their son.

Miller said others are not so lucky.

"What about the single mothers?" she said. "When are they able to do this for their children?"

The family said they would have had to do even more for their son if he hadn't been relatively high functioning. Miller volunteered in the community and received scholarships for college.

"He lived a pretty normal life," she said.

Yet mental health is often a moving target that can't be treated the same way every day, Kyle's father, Mark Miller, said.

To keep Kyle's life as normal as possible, the family made routine trips to the doctor to adjust Kyle's medication. Occasionally, Kyle's mood would decline and he would slide into habits of injuring himself. He was hospitalized several times when his unstable mood caused him to become a danger to himself, his parents said.

Yet the Millers said even with good health insurance and good mental health care, the family still spent more than $1,000 a month on medications and bills for hospital stays and therapy sessions.

NAMI Colorado board member Coleman said it is common for medications to reach the thousands of dollars a month, depending on what illness is being treated. Oftentimes health insurance covers just a fraction of that cost. Bills for hospital stays, therapy and other treatments add to the cost.

The Millers were lucky to have health insurance, Coleman said. Without it, some patients end up going off medications, forego treatment or turn to self-medication with alcohol or other substance abuse, he said.

Yet the high costs of mental health care are not just measured in dollars. Decreased federal and state funding strains local resources, Coleman said.

Colorado is on track to lose $1.9 million in mental health funding this year, according to NAMI. Since 2009, the state has lost $9.7 million, or about 8 percent of its funding.

The last time Kyle Miller was in the hospital for long-term treatment, no beds were available at the nearest location at Centennial Peaks Hospital in Louisville. He ended up in a facility in Denver.

Finding a bed is a big problem in Colorado, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. Its 2009 study ranked Colorado 50th in the number of in-patient psychiatric beds per resident.

Continuity key, too

Continuity of care also is a challenge.

In the weeks before Kyle's death, he became increasingly depressed because he recently lost his job as an EMT. His regular doctor in Broomfield was out of town, so he instead saw a mental health professional in Boulder.

"He wasn't doing well," Cheryl Miller said.

The Millers said their son went to four mental health appointments that week, but it was not enough to convince Kyle not to leave the house with a knife and the Airsoft gun.

The Millers said the mental health care system was not to blame.

"He lost his battle. He was just hurting so bad," Mark Miller said.

Stigma stifles awareness

NAMI Colorado's Coleman said mental health funding issues could be highlighted on a more publicized scale, but families face the daunting stigma of mental illness.

Some families worry about "outing" their mentally ill spouses, siblings or loved ones.

"People are afraid of ridicule, of losing their jobs," he said, adding he also has a family member who has mental health issues. He declined to go into detail about the family member, because "it wouldn't be fair to them."

The Millers said they have decided to speak out about their son's struggles to raise awareness and find a brighter future for other families whose lives have changed because of mental illness.

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